Helping to cut the carbon footprint

Oct 24 2007 by Graeme King, The Journal

A HUSBAND and wife team in the West End of Newcastle is growing its business while helping to shrink the region’s carbon footprint.

Martin and Moira Sawyer have been running their Laser-ex company for two years now and have just taken on their first employee to help with their growth.

The couple sell re-conditioned ink cartridges for printers which sell for as much as 50% cheaper than new, branded cartridges.

Martin, a former accountant, and Moira, who worked as an air stewardess for 20 years, set up Laser-Ex on Buddle Road, Newcastle, in 2005. They are celebrating their two-year anniversary in business with a growing North-East client base that includes schools, medical practices, a range of SMEs and regional car dealerships.

And to help them trade with those clients, the couple have just benefited from a public sector ‘Step Change’ grant to allow them to invest in e-commerce facilities for their website.

Moira said: “By purchasing our remanufactured toner cartridges, our clients are not only saving money, they are helping the environment. Up to two litres of oil are needed to manufacture a new laser toner cartridge but no oil is used in our remanufacturing process.

“It can take up to 300 years for cartridges to break down in landfill sites but remanufactured cartridges reuse many of the original components and those that are removed are recycled and used elsewhere.”

Laser-ex has been helped by Business Link to develop its brand and to launch a website at www.laser-ex.co.uk which is now being developed further.

Andrew Frost, from Business Link, said: “We have worked with Laser-Ex from the word go and since it started, the company has gone from strength to strength.”